Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point

About this web log

This blog is intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

About the author

John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

Common sense considerations

The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

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Researchers from AlcalÃ¡ de Henares University, in Madrid, Spain studied the effectiveness of early physiotherapy following breast cancer surgery.

Women who undergo extensive surgery — with many lymph nodes removed, or radiation therapy to axillary lymph nodes (around the armpit) after surgery — are more likely to develop â€œsecondaryâ€ lymphoedema (associated with the breast cancer surgery), which may occur within 4 years after surgery.

First, the details.

120 women who had breast surgery involving dissection of axillary lymph nodes were randomly assigned to a treatment group.

Early physiotherapy: A physiotherapist put the patients through a program that included manual lymph drainage, massage of scar tissue, and progressive active and action assisted shoulder exercises. This group also received an educational strategy.

Control group: Educational strategy only

The incidence of clinically significant secondary lymphoedema (greater than 2 cm increase in arm circumference compared with the non-affected arm) was recorded.

The researchers were not aware of the treatment given — single blind.

And, the results.

18 of 116 women who were followed for a year developed secondary lymphoedema (16%).

There were significantly more cases in the control group (25%) vs the early physiotherapy group (7%).

Secondary lymphoedema was diagnosed 4 times earlier in the control group than in the early physiotherapy group.

The bottom line?

The authors concluded, â€œEarly physiotherapy could be an effective intervention in the prevention of secondary lymphoedema in women for at least 1 year after surgery for breast cancer involving dissection of axillary lymph nodes.â€